Throughout any normal day, but especially during times of stress and anxious anticipation, your mind gets further and further away from being still and in the moment – it’s like your mind goes on autopilot and we aren’t even aware that we are not truly present.

This can often result in feelings of anxiety or fearful overthinking.

Using the practice of quieting the mind will help settle yourself back into a calm presence.

When you become focused and relaxed, you are more present and less anxious while becoming more productive and grounded in the moment (versus living in the future of “What if…”).

Quieting the mind begins with being aware that you are not in the moment and then stopping what you are doing in order to commit just a few minutes to being present.

As you slow down for these minutes, notice how this feels in your mind.

What would happen to your business, performance or life, if you could create a perspective that would lead to powerful and amazing results?

“Every picture tells a story, don’t it…” ~ Rod Stewart

I know an artist. Not just any artist. An amazing artist. Oh, and she happens to be my wife, Ramona. She has an eye for what works and what doesn’t.

I watch her in her studio as she takes a blank canvas and, over time, transforms it into something magical (VictorianNoel). After what seems to be a zillion hours of work, she shows me what I believe is the final piece. I tell her it’s time to put it out to the world so others can share in its magic.

Instead, I hear these words, “It’s not finished yet. I need to put it in a frame.” So, I offer to run to the art store to quickly grab a frame for her latest piece. “No,” she says,

“Picking the right frame makes all of the difference in the world.”

And she is right (as she usually is!). The frame she chooses can either make the picture look ‘okay’ or pop and come alive.

The frame matters.

It matters not only in art, it matters in every area of our life. How I choose to frame what I see or even believe makes all of the difference in the world.

A recent Harvard University 8-year study confirmed how critical it is how we frame things. In fact, they concluded that how we see a particular set of circumstances can be the difference between life and death.

The study included 30,000 people who reported having a lot of stress in their lives. This group had a 43% increased chance of dying prematurely.

But …